Chamber and committees

The proposed obligation relates to public authorities, but that is not to say that there would not be an impact on private industry as a result of that.

I would be happy to get back to the committee on how such bodies might be considered and what the impact of that might be, if that would be helpful.

The detail of the outcomes that we will be setting out and hoping to achieve will be in the good food nation plans. As far as the oversight and monitoring of that is concerned, the bill itself talks about how progress will be monitored, and there will be periodic reports on and reviews of the plans, which are set out in the legislation, too. We have to report on our plans every two years, with a review after five, and there will be opportunities at those different stages for scrutiny to take place. Again, though, I will be keen to see what is in the stage 1 report and whether the committee feels that that has not necessarily been set out in the bill, that the provision is not strong enough or that there is a greater role for parliamentary scrutiny.

The costs in that regard for health boards were expected to be negligible because they already have in place a number of policies in relation to food. Officials might want to elaborate on that.

It was interesting to go through the evidence and hear comments on that. Obviously, a number of different bodies have different and specific roles and responsibilities. The committee has heard from some of those bodies in taking evidence. The work that we committed to undertake, and are undertaking, to properly scrutinise that will help us to fully assess what that landscape looks like and how we can develop work in relation to that.

Throughout the process and in the lead-up to decisions, it is critical that the community’s voice is heard. There are a number of means by which community voices can be heard throughout the process, whether that is through the consenting processes or licence applications for aquaculture. As the minister stated, NPF4 gives importance to community wealth building. Do you want to elaborate on that point, Tom?

I will add a brief point. We will also deliver our vision for sustainable aquaculture this year, which will put an enhanced focus on the issue. I just wanted to give the member that assurance.

I am afraid that I do not have that information to hand.

I am not looking to amend the regulations at this stage. As I have already outlined, they extend the range of activities that we can fund; we are not at the stage of establishing a new fund or what the criteria for that might look like.

I do not believe that it would.

Again, we would be happy to come back with answers on those points.